Refrigerator article receptacle



May 14, 1935. H. H. GILBERT Er AL 2,000,944`

\ REFRIGERATOR ARTICLE RECEPTCLE Filed Jan. l1, 1932 IIIIIIIIIIIIIII INVENTOR Harold H. Gziberf J5/7n f?. Replay/e. BY

TORNEYS Patented May 14, 1935 UNITED STATES l'PATENT 'oi-FICE 2,000,044 m-:FmGEaA'i-on ARTICLE nEcEP'rAcLE of Michigan Application `lanuary 11,

(ci. 31a-173) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to the refrigeration art and has particular relation to the provision of suitable shelves and other supports in refrigerators for receiving and storing accessibly the 5 wide variety of sizes and shapes of products which a refrigerator is required to accommodate.

It is desirable in a refrigerator to have the products contained therein stored in such manner that they will ,be immediately accessible when the refrigerator door is opened and without the necessity of removing products other than those at the time desired. If the refrigerator is simply provided with shelves they must be placed relatively far apart in order to accommodate products of relatively large size, in which event it is necessary to pile the smaller products one on top of another and under which conditions it is relatively difficult to find and to remove any particular product which is desired.

If the bottom shelf of a refrigerator is made relatively short or of a variable depth and bottles orother tall products are placed on the bottom of the refrigerator in front of said shelf, it is of course impossible to obtain access to the space therebehind until one or more of the bottles have j been' removed.

Among ,the objects of the present invention are to divide the interior of a refrigerator into a plurality of sections or compartments each prov.130 vided with article containers, shelves or racks designed to accommodate articles of approximately the same size and which containers, shelves or racks are separable from one another in order that access may be had to all articles or products which the refrigerator may contain; to provide a refrigerator having relatively shallow and closely spaced shelves in front of which is a region for?.V receiving other article containers which are frernoyable from the refrigerator when .fthe door 'is' opened and to which access may be had in a region remote from the shelves or supporting devices remaining permanently in the refrigerator; to provide a refrigerator contain,

ing relatively narrow or shallow shelves on which small articles or food products may be stored near the back wall of a refrigerator and which are accessible without 'first removing larger. articles permanently located in the refrigerator in front'thereof; to render more eillcient the use of available space in the interior of a refrigerator by providing a relatively large amount of shelf area for articles of small size and throughout whicharea such articles may be distributed in such manner as to be readily accessible, and to provide a relatively 'small amount of shelf area 1932, Serial No. 585,890

a refrigerator adjacent one edge of a door opening therein and illustrating supports or receptacles for products to be stored secured both to the refrigerator door and to the side walls thereof.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, cross-sectional view of the refrigerator illustrated by Fig. 1 as it might appear looking downwardly from the plane of yline 2-2 thereon.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, horizontal sectional view of one of the containers as it might appear from line 4-4 on Fig. 1.

Referring particularly to the drawing, the in vention is embraced in a refrigerator I0 comprising a heat insulated cabinet Il having a swinging insulated door I2 for closing an opening therein through which products to be stored are insorted and removed. The cabinet Il also has disposed therein the cooling unit of anyA suitable refrigeration apparatus (not shpwn) and by which water and other liquids may be frozen and the interior of the cabinet maintained at a relatively low temperature.

Arranged on the side walls of the cabinet I I are a plurality of shelf supports I4 on which refrigerator shelves I6 are retained. These shelves are somewhat narrower or more shallow than shelves ordinarily employed in refrigerators to provide a region or space in front thereof for the accommodation of large articles such as bottles, melons, vegetables, etc., which ordinary shelves are not particularly adapted to support.

The bottom shelf ordinarily should be spaced a considerable, distance from the bottom wall of the refrigerator in order to make room for the disposition therebeneath of large containers or arti clesof merchandise which it may be desirable to place there. Space for this purpose also may. be provided by removing one of the refrigerator vshelves located adjacent the bottom refrigerator wall when it is desired to store large articles 1n such space and at other times the shelf may be replaced and employed in the refrigerator when a large number of small articles are to be accommodated.

The remaining refrigerator shelves are disposed relatively closely together in order to provide a large amount of shelf area for storing relatively small products and vessels.

5 In the space in front of the shelves is located a plurality of containers or receptacles I8 and I9 which are secured either permanently or removably in spaced relation upon the inside of the refrigerator door |2.

The lowerone of these containers or receptacles embraces a pair of spaced and vertically disposed bars or frame members 2| and 22 which are supported upon a metallic lining 23 of the refrigerator door I2 by stud bolts 29 projecting through the upper and low r ends thereof and secured in position by cap nu 24. Annular collars 26 are disposed between the bars and the lining in order to maintain such elements in properly spaced relation. Inside the lining 23 and directly opposite the bars\2| and 22 are disposed brackets 21 which are so flanged at opposite ends, as indicated at 23 in Fig. 4, as to receive therein the heads of the studs 29 and to preventy their rotation.

At the upper and lower extremities of the bars 2| and 22 are secured, as for example by welding, a pair of rectangular frames 3| and 32 respectively, which are formed by properly bending and securing together the ends of a pair of long rods. 'I'he two front corners of the frames 3| and 32 are secured rigidly together by rods 33 at the opposite ends of which the frames are welded or otherwise secured. Welded or otherwise secured to the front of the bars 2| and 22 and the rods 33 and suitably spaced between the frames 3| and 32 are a plurality of side members 34 which are formed of relatively light strips bent in rectangular formation.

In order to prevent rattling of milk bottles or other similar articles disposed therein, one or more of the side members 34, or other parts of the structure, may be covered with removable rubber bumper strips as is illustrated at 36 which are so molded or otherwise formed as to substantially surround the members on which they are disposed, thus preventing engagement therewith of the' articles within the container; In order to permit bending at the corners an outer portion of the bumper strip 36 is cut away as is .indicated at 31 in Fig. 4. Also as is indicated bythis gure lthe side members 34 supporting bumper strips are bent inwardly asis indicated .at 38 until the outer Y bumper -strip edges are substantially flush with the sidemembers not provided with bumper strips.

The bottom of the container is formed by a shallow pan, vessel or receptacle 39 having outwardly flanged edges 4| adapted to be removably disposed on' the side portions of the -lower frame 32.

In order to avoid a condition in which articles or vessels placed. on .the bottom of the refrigerator might interfere with the location of container I1 the refrigerator lining V42 at the bottom wall thereof is provided with an upwardly projecting rib or bead 43 which is positioned adjacent the' outer edge of the container to indicate to the refrigerator user how -far forwardly such articles may be permitted to extend.

container that bottles and other articles may,

be easily removed from the latter. and is adapted to receive fruit, packages or other similar products.

-The container I9 located above the container I8 secured to the refrigerator door by fastening elements similar to those employed in securing the containers I1 and I3 to the door and to all which elements corresponding reference numerals are applied. This container consists of a solid walled receptacle having openings 46 formed adjacent the upper open side thereof and through which air may circulate between the interiors of the receptacle and the refrigerator. The open other upper side of the receptacle is adapted to be closed by a cover 41 hinged as indicated at 48 to the inner wall thereof to prevent displacement of the cover when the refrigerator door is violently closed. The container I3 may be employed for receiving vegetables or other products having a tendency to become shriveled and dried when exposed to the circulating air in a refrigerator and for keeping such products in a moist and well preserved condition. r

Any number of containers may be secured to a refrigerator door and behind such containers any desired number of shallow shelves may be employed. Any remaining space may be occupied by shelves similar to those now employed in refrigerators and extending from the front to the rear thereof.

In the structure disclosed herein, when the refrigerator door is opened a large part of the contents of a refrigerator swings outwardly with the door and is thereupon accessible for removal from the containers supported by the door. 'I'he remainder of the products stored in the refrigerator are also conveniently removable from the narrow shelves permanently secured therein by reason-of theremoval with the door oi the large and bulky products heretofore supported by the shelves. Y

While the structure herein disclosed constitutes a preferred formand application of the invention, vit is to be `understood that other structures differwidely from that herein disclosed are within the scope of the invention defined by the appended claim.

We claim:

A refrigerator comprising an insulated cab- 

